The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1887-04-16
FOREIGN MENTION.

Iris the custom of Americans in Paris to
hang states in their halls upon which call
ers are expecte! to write their names.
RUSSIAN regulations prohibit the en-
trance of Jewish merchants into that coun-
try, exceptions being made in favor Of
wholesale dealers only.
AMERICANS think a cent a small matter
but it assumes cart-wheel proportions in
comparison with the smallest coin OF the
Coreans, which is twenty-five times small
er in value.
THE divorce law of England is said to be
complex mass of possibilities. An En-
glish justice recently decided that bgamy
was no crime when committed bya woman
in self-defense.
AMERICA has furnished an electric. light
plant and an engineer to the King Of
Corea for Illuminating the royal build
ings. The King also desires powerful
lamps for use in the palace grounds,
A REVELATION OF French prison. house
secrets is being prepared in book form in
Paris. Its title will be {" lie Monde des
Prisons" 1t will contain startling ex-
posures of the tactics pursued by habitual
offenders.
A SERIES Of fancy-dress balls are being
introduced in Paris, representing the
characters of the great French writer's.
The guests wear costumes worn by per.
sonages created by the writer. The idea
is said to meet with widespread favor.
AN account has been given of the exist
ence Of a number of mineral-water
sources iii the Caucasus These are said
to excel in quality those of Vichy, Carls-
bad and Baden Baden. Attention WAS at
tracted to them as far back as the year
l717 and at intervals since.
A FAvoDITE dish among the Arabian cpl
cures is ''sikbaj,'' a stew Of sleeps heads,
These are scraped, filled with favored
meats and dressed with olive oil and vine
gar. A story is related OF three notable
moslems who killed themselves eating Of
this very highly favored stew,
BELGIUM is referred too the most drunk
en- country in Europe. There are i95, 900
public houses or one for every forty-four
Of the population The Government is
striving for the repression and prevention
of drunkenness. Public house debts are
no longer recoverable in that city.
The banking system in Bolivia is spoken
Of as q very loose and singular arrange
nlent. The information given is to the ef-
feet that counterfeit money is as current
and passes as readily as the genuine. A
story is told in this connection, Of one hun
dred kegs OF nails received there from
North America, which contained. for the
most part, coun terieit silver pieces.
A BALLOON of colossal dimensions, and
said to be capable of being guided at will.
has been for some time in course Of con-
struction at Berlin. The balloon is 500 feet
in length and SO feet in diameter. The
total weight is about $4,000 pounds, the
envelope and netting alone weighing 10000
pounds. The prope1ling machinery consists
of two steam engines Of fifty horse power
each, and tho entire cost is estimated at
$1,000
On the eastern coast Of the Caspian Sea
a curious change is in progress. The Kara
Bobhaz is an estuary nearly separated from
the main body of the sea by a bank through
which there is an inlet. The evaporation
from this gulf is SO great that current
continually sets in from the Caspian, and
as there is no return current, the gulf be-
comes more and more saiferous, and a de-
.)osit OF salt is in course Of formation. In
time this gulf will be cut off from the Cas-
plan, and will then be dried up and become
an extensive salt bed.
JAPAN has an area of 10000 square
miles, or about 10000, 600 acres. This ap-
proSimate approaches the area OF the State
of California. OF this area Japan has only
1900. 090 acres in cultivation by the spade,
mattoc9z or pillow. From this cultivated
area all the food and textile plants are
grown to feed and clothe IS, 000, 00o people
The land outside Of this cultivation does
not contribute by grazing to their support
as with us, as the Japanese wear no wool
en- clothing, aud eat neither beef, pork,
mutton, milk, butter nor cheese. The un-
titled area yields them only fuel. Their
100000 acres do even more than clothe
and feed their IS, 900. 900 people. They yield
10, 100000 pounds of tea. $4,000 bales of silk,
and large quantities of rice, tobacco and
hemp for expectation.